Grain Belt sign on track to be relit

Each issue the Development Tracker follows construction projects around downtown and Northeast Minneapolis

Grain Belt sign

4 Island Ave. W.

August Schell Brewing Co.

August Schell Brewing Co. is making progress on the renovation and relighting of the Grain Belt Beer sign. The New Ulm, Minn.-based brewers of Grain Belt beer announced last year that it bought the sign with the hope of fixing and modernizing the well-known Minneapolis landmark, a 75-year-old sign that was last lit in the 1990s. August Schell is proposing to replace the existing incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs and fixtures, which it says will bring maintenance costs and energy use down. Once relit, the sign would be able to change colors to honor holidays like Memorial Day and Christmas, according to plans submitted to the Heritage Preservation Commission. The HPC approved August Schell’s plan on June 6.

The 2016 holiday display at the Macy’s on Nicollet Mall. Photo by Eric Best

Macy’s redevelopment

700 Nicollet Mall

United Properties

The firm that bought Nicollet Mall’s Macy’s has brought on a retail marketing and leasing firm with a vision for the historic Dayton’s department store space. New York-based 601W Cos. recently announced that Mid-America Real Estate will join the project team, which includes Bloomington-based developer United Properties, tasked with renovating the building at 7th & Nicollet. The plan will likely include a retail component and creative reuses of the street and skyway levels, such as with a food hall or traditional retailers, according to a release. The team also includes redevelopment consulting firm The Telos Group, architecture firm Gensler & Associates and Transwestern as the management agent.

416 Hennepin

416 Hennepin Ave. E.

Fe Equus

Fe Equus has turned its gaze to the Nicollet Island-East Bank neighborhood where it is now planning a 110-unit condo building. The Milwaukee-based developer, which previously built the Hewing Hotel, is planning an 11-story building at 416 and 420 Hennepin Ave. E., according to preliminary plans recently released by the Nicollet Island-East Bank Neighborhood Association. The developer recently bought the parcel at 416 E. Hennepin Ave. for $1.8 million, according to a certificate of real estate value. The project would displace a two-story office building and a surface parking lot, though several buildings would remain, including one home to Whitey’s World Famous Saloon. The proposal features 10,800 square feet of commercial space on the main level and office space for the developer and Downtown Resource Group. Plans show an approximately 4,600-square-foot space at the corner of Hennepin & Central for a restaurant. The building would have 156 parking stalls for residents across three levels of above-ground parking and 105 underground parking spaces for the public.

File image

Upper Harbor Terminal

Dowling Avenue North

United Properties

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board approved June 7 the execution of an exclusive rights agreement between the City of Minneapolis, the board and a development team for the Upper Harbor Terminal, a nearly 50-acre site in North Minneapolis slated for an ambitious redevelopment. If the agreement gets the mayor’s approval, it will guide the planning process for the redevelopment of the city-owned site. United Properties, the team’s lead developer, previously released a preliminary plan that called for up to 1,000 units of housing, a 10,000-person amphitheater and 18 acres of parkland, among other pieces.

Submitted to the City of Minneapolis

14th & Marshall

1319 Marshall

CPM Cos.

The City Council’s Zoning & Planning Committee has continued plans for a 110-unit apartment building from CPM Cos. as the Minneapolis-based developer works with planning staff and neighborhood residents to refine them. The developer is proposing to build a six-story market-rate building at the corner of 14th & Marshall in the Sheridan neighborhood. A representative from the neighborhood group had filed an appeal to several variances and a conditional use permit for the project. CPM is also proposing a similarly sized building on the other side of the block near 13th & Marshall that would have 95 apartments and space for a 3,200-square-foot restaurant. That project faces similar concerns related to parking and setbacks from the neighborhood group.

Pastor Tim Hart-Andersen of Westminster Presbyterian Church spoke at a recent construction tour of the church’s campus expansion. Submitted photo

St. David’s Center

1200 S. Marquette Ave.

Westminster Presbyterian Church

St. David’s Center, a Minnetonka-based nonprofit, is joining the expansion of Westminster Presbyterian Church on Nicollet Mall. St. David’s will occupy about a quarter of the church’s new wing, an expansion designed by James Dayton Design that is replacing an eight-story office building on Marquette Avenue. The new center will serve at least 200 children and their families with mental health, pediatric and other treatment services. St. David’s Center’s East African Autism Day Treatment Program will also relocate to the downtown campus, which is slated to open this spring.

One Thousand 3rd

1000 3rd St. N.

Schafer Richardson

Schafer Richardson has resubmitted modified plans to the City Planning Commission for an office redevelopment in the North Loop. The downtown-based developer is proposing to renovate the two-story Zuccaro’s Produce building at 3rd & 10th and add three stories on top. The entire project would feature a total net rental square footage of about 61,000 square feet for office tenants. The building would have a rooftop amenity space for tenants and 28 on-site parking stalls, though the developer is working on a large parking ramp project just across the street that would serve its nearby office tenants.

Submitted to the City of Minneapolis

Minneapolis Armory

500 S. 6th St.

Swervo Development

Swervo Development is currently redeveloping the Minneapolis Armory into a multi-use exhibition hall and is proposing a small addition to the historic building’s Portland Avenue side. The developer plans to add a one-story addition that would add nearly 3,000 square feet for a reception and meeting hall. Combined with an existing garage addition, the new space could provide room for a restaurant, according to plans submitted to the City Planning Commission for its June 12 meeting. Once complete, the developer envisions the armory being able to host musical or theatrical performance events for approximately 7,000 people, approximately 2,500-person conventions, boat and auto shows or sporting events with up to 5,000 attendees.

Grant Street Commons

515 E. Grant St.

Calvera Partners

An 85-unit apartment complex has a new owner in Calvera Partners. The San Francisco-based firm recently bought the Grant Street Commons complex in the Elliot Park neighborhood for $11.375 million, according to a certificate of real estate value filed in Hennepin County. The eight-story apartment community was built in 1984.

Barrel House sign

101 3rd Ave. S.

ICM Realty

ICM Realty is putting its mark on Mill Place following a renovation to the office building near the Mill District. The Calgary, Alberta-based firm is rebranding the building as the Barrel House and plans to put a 282-square-foot sign with the new name on the back portion of the building. The Heritage Preservation Commission recently voted 6-3 to approve a certificate of appropriateness and a historic variance for the size related to the project.